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The Treatment of Social Failure

A Comparison of Anxiety-Reduction and Skills-Acquisition Procedures on Two Social Problems

Hollymoor Hospital, Birmingham, England

Krysia Yardley

Dartington College of Arts

Bridget M. Bryant

Oxford University

Phyllis Shaw

Oxford University

The differential response of two forms of social failure-primary and secondary-to two forms of treatment—a skills-acquisition procedure and an anxiety-reduction technique-was studied. Twenty socially unskilled (primary) patients and 20 socially phobic (secondary) patients were given either systematic desensitization (SD) or social skills training (SST). The unskilled patients responded more to SST, as predicted, in that they reported significantly less difficulty in social situations, went out more, and improved on their personal behavioral deficits. The phobic patients responded equally well to both therapies. The success of SST in both kinds of problems is explained in terms of an unpredicted dual role, in that it reduced anxiety as well as facilitated behavior change. This is discussed in the light of current theories of anxiety reduction.

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